Category: Canoes

Canoes, kayaks, sailin canoes, open canoes, paddles, skin on frame canoes, canoe plans

Percy Blandford – a nice obituary in a national newspaper

Percy Blandford obituary

The Daily Telegraph has this nice obituary for boat and canoe designer and DIY hero Percy Blandford.

‘Percy Blandford, who has died aged 101, was at the heart of the British do-it-yourself boom in the period of austerity that followed the Second World War… his blueprints for home-built craft allowed thousands of enthusiasts, who would otherwise have been unable to afford the experience, to get out on the water.’

My thanks to Blandford fan Chuck Leinweber of Duckworks Magazine for finding this one.

1957 – and Royal Leamington Spa Canoe Club are paddling Percy Blandford’s canvas canoes

This is one of the many great things we should remember Mr Blandford for… Look out for his books including his boat plans on sale second hand, or buy his plans from Clark Craft.

Todd Kerr builds a Cinderella

This smart little canoe built to my Cinderella plans built by Tod Kerr will be launched on the Chesapeake in a few weeks. It’s great to see that he has followed the building instructions to a ‘T’ and has come up with an excellent result.

The plans he used are included in my book Ultrasimple Boat Building, which was published by International Marine some years ago and which is still available from Amazon and elsewhere. (The book plans are a little more worked out than the earlier Cinderella plans available from this site and, as it’s a book, come with much more detail about the boat building method.)

Despite ‘looking right’ the Cinderella is very quick and cheaply made water-borne vehicle, and all reports show that she paddles very nicely. Thanks for letting me know about your project Tod! Read all about Tod’s Cinderella -and find out how she took just $30 in materials here.